Car-ladder



F. JAGER.

CAR LADDER. APPLICATION FILED JULY 9,1919. k

Patented May 3, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK JAGER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-LADDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3, 1921.

Application filed July 9, 1919. I Serial No. 309,577.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J AGER, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Ladders, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My present invention relates in general to ladders, and has reference, more particularly, to ladders of the type designed for use in connection with railway box cars and the like, one object being to simplify and facilitate the construction of ladders of this type to reducethe element of cost to the minimum. Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a ladder of this character which may be very easily assembled and quickly applied to the car by the most unskilled laborer, thus efi'ecting a material reduction of labor cost in this direction.

A further object of the invention involves the utilization of standard or commercial iron elements as component parts of the ladder, and wherein all such ladder parts are rigidly maintained in a locked relation without the necessity for bending rung ends or riveting stiles to supporting brackets, though the parts may be very readily disassembled for the purpose of repair or replacement.

A still further advantage of the invention results from the employment of standard or stock sizesof parts throughout the ladder thereby permitting repair of the same in any repair shop regardless of whatever class of labor is there available.

The invention still further contemplates the provision of novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of the ferred formin the accompanying drawing,

wherein:

Figure 1 represents a slde elevation of'a portion of a car siding to which my improved ladder is shown applied:

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustratingthe assembled relation of the ladder parts:

Fig. 3 is a view in transverse section taken through Fig. 1 along the line 3-3:

Fig. 4 is a similar view, but illustrating the method of assembling and disassembling the parts of the ladder:

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section illustrating the means for attaching a ladder to the car: and, I

Fig. 6 is a similar view illustrating a modified form of ladder mounting.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawing, it will be seen that. the reference character A denotes the car siding of the car to which the ladder, comprising angle bar stiles B and rungs C is applied by means of end brackets D, and central brackets E.

Heretofore, in ladder constructions, it has been proposed to form the end of each rung with a reversed bend so that in assembling the ladder parts such bent end may be engaged in holes found in both flanges of the angle bar stile, in which case also, the sup porting bracket was, and necessarily so, to be riveted directly to the stile.

This bending, however, required at least two heats for each end of the rung, hence in .a ladder employing a series of rungs this treatment alone addedmaterially. to its cost. This item was furthermore increased in view of the bracket riveting requirement, and obviously so since ladders are most frequently I tion, while in'the event of damage occurring to any of its parts, such may be repaired in a facile manner by a class of'labor not ordinarily employed 1n these processes.

brought into a thoroughly locked organiza- In carrying out my invention, the angle bar stiles B are each arranged so as to have one of their divergent wall portions or flanges 7 extended inwardly-toward the siding, and these flanges are formed with rung receiving apertures 6 located in close prox imitywith the other flanges 8 which are extended'in a direction outwardly away from these said apertures. The rungs there, as shown, comprise in each instance an ordinary stock bolt headed at one end and threadedat the other, the head, preferably of rectangular cross-section, being designated by the reference numeral 9 ,and the threaded end is indicated by the numeral 10..

Prior to the applicationof the stiles to the siding by means of the brackets D, each of the rung bolt members therein is first inserted endwise through a hole in one of the flanges 7 and then continued endwise through a hole in the other flange 7 until the threaded end 10. extends well beyond. the

last mentioned flange in order toreceive the nut 11, asawill be readily understood by a reference to Fig. 4 of the drawings. In this figure the left hand stile is, as already incheated, moved somewhat to the right in order to permit engagement, of the nut 11 with the threaded end 10 of each of the rungs. After each of the nuts 11 have been advanced a predetermined distance upon the threaded ends ofthe rungs, the left hand stile is then moved tothe left until'flange 7 abuts-againstthe inner face of each of 'the nutsll. At thesame. time, the outwardly extending flange of the righthand stile abuts the outerface of the head 9 in such a manner as to lock the rung against rotation, and the similar flange on the left hand stile also has an abutting relation with the outer face of the nut 11 which serves to prevent any involuntary uncoupling of said nut. Obviously,*ini thedisassemblage of any of the above mentioned parts,all that is required to be done is to move one or the other of the stiles sufficiently inwardly so as to permit the uncoupling of the nutfrom the rung bolt member. 'In other words,'I aim to utilize as stiles a pair ofangle bar members, together with a series of headed bolt members, serving as rungs, together with their complementary nuts, all being so organized as to permit their ready assemblage and application to'the car by the most unskilled class of labor. When applied, the rungs are'locked against rotation, while the only removable elements, the nuts, are prevented from backing off the rungs; The parts of the ladder are such as to makefor ready repair, orre placement, at any car shop. V

Referring now more particularly to F1gs.

'3' an'd"6 of the drawings, whereln my preferred form ofv mounting for the ladder is disclosed, it will be seen that the bracket D has its outwardly extending flange 12 provided with an aperturels corresponding to the rung-hole in the flange 7 with which it is intended to cooperate. Thisflange 12 is continuedbeyondthe hole 13 to'engage' the jflange "S in the vicinity of the apex'of the stile. 'T hese brackets may" be employed in connection with the upper and lower rungs, while at the same time the flanges 12 of the brackets E press against the inner faces of .thestiles. lVhen assembling the parts, these rungs in passing through the rung holes in the stiles are also passed through the rung holes '13 of the bracket flanges 12, whereupon the end nuts 11 are coupled on the threaded ends of the rungs. Before the stile or stiles are moved 'along'the rung to the position indicated in these figures, the brackets are themselves held in a rigid locked relation, and being carried on the rung ends themselves the necessity for riveting the bracket, as shown in F ig. 6, and the bolt 14:

may beprovided with a squared head 1 1,

one sideface. of which may abutan inner face portion of the stile flange 7 in a look ing relationtherewith. Furthermore, as .indicated in said Fig. 6, the stile flange 8. may be formedwith a marginal rib 17,:formed and located so that a slight'ttilting of the rung will permit thepassage of theinutll during the assembling of the-ladder parts, whereupon when the stiles are positioned against the siding by the brackets, inward movement of the stiles along the rungs, under abnormal impact from external causes,

is prevented, and the integrity of the ladder maintained. Other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in theart.

I do not intend to be understood as limiting myself to the precise details of construction and arrangement of the parts as shown,

as it will be manifest that modifications thereof may be made in: the adaptation of the ladder to various conditions of use without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention and improvements. For example, the laterally extended; stile flanges I may be so'positioned as to engage the inner faces of the heads and nuts, instead of their outer faces, and obviously the angle'bar stiles may be made of wood, if desired; I,

therefore, reserve the right to all such and other modifications as properly fall within the scope of the invention and the terms of the following'claims; I claim:

1. In a ladder,the combinationofa pair of angle bar stiles comprising divergent I flanges, one ofsaid flanges "formed with a plurality of rung receiving holes and the other with an abutment near each of said holes but spaced laterally and outwardly therefrom, rungs having their end portions engaging said holes, and rung securing elements on said end portions positioned within the abutments whereby each element engages both flanges of the stile with which it cooperates.

2. In a ladder, the combination of a pair of angle bar stiles each having the inwardly extending flange thereof provided with rung receiving holes, angle bar supporting brackets each having one flange adapted to be bolted to the side of a car, and the other flange extending outwardly from the face of the car and provided with a rung receiving opening adapted to be alined with one of the rung receiving openings of said stiles, a rung bolt extending through the openings in said stile flanges and in said bracket flanges, and a nut threaded on the outer end of said bolt, the outer flanges of said stiles being so disposed with respect to the rung receiving openings that said nut and the head of said rung bolt are engaged by said flanges respectively when the stiles are adjacent the ends of the bolts, whereby said bolts and nuts are held against accidental rotative movement.

FRANK J AGER. 

